SatLink Dish Holds Record-Breaking Hummus Preparation

One thing people of all creeds in the Middle East can agree upon is that hummus is delicious.

SatLink Communications, which normally provides transmission solutions for video, audio and data over satellite, fiber and IP with particular focus on the Middle East, carried something else Friday on one of its dishes--a four-ton load of hummus, the creamy chickpea-based food popular in the region and elsewhere.

The record-setting SatLink dish of hummus

Whipped up at the village of Abu Gosh, outside Jerusalem, it's been adjudicated by the Guinness World Records organization as the largest preparation of hummus ever.

Organizers also provided 5,000 pita breads to scoop it up. The tasty treat resulted from a partnership between SatLink and Israeli restaurateur and businessman Jowdat Ibrahim.

The meal, weighing in at 4,090 kilograms (more than 4 tons), was loaded onto a six-meter satellite dish.

It consisted of three tons of chickpeas blended with one ton of tahini (sesame) paste. Initial announcements were silent about olive oil, garlic, spices and other common hummus ingredients.

Some 50 chefs from around Israel arrived early today to prepare the dish in the village, which boasts a worldwide reputation as a hummus mecca. Following local Arab-Israeli singers and a festive blessing by Ibrahim, the Guinness official acknowledged the new world record.

Using its equipment the regular way, SatLink also provided live satellite transmission of the event.

“This hummus is exactly like the tasty and scrumptious hummus we prepare daily in Abu Gosh,” said Ibraham.

“Our neighbors down the road in Abu Gosh craft the best hummus in Israel and there is no better way to celebrate the new year than by sponsoring this project with one of our mid-sized satellite dishes," said David Hochner, CEO of SatLink. "I often find myself closing deals over a bowl of hummus and am proud of SatLink’s role in sponsoring the event setting this world record.”

The effort breaks the previous hummus record, a two-ton preparation in October 2009 in Lebanon. That dish, in turn, broke a previous record set in Israel.